2005 Volvo S40 and V50: Will a Little Luxury Count for a Lot With the Young?

Coshocton, Ohio - LET us consider the seemingly incongruous concept of "affordable luxury." Affordable for whom? Luxurious by what standard? The cerebral strain is enough to bring on an upscale headache.

Such ruminations are more than an academic exercise. Many companies that claim to make luxury cars are exploring the lower reaches of that conceit as they seek younger buyers with new lines of smaller, less expensive cars and trucks -- vehicles that fall into the amorphous "entry luxury" class.

For instance, Audi is bringing its small A3 to the United States in May with prices that are likely to be Camry-size, in the $25,000 to $30,000 range. BMW is likely to sell some variation of its new 1 Series or 2 Series. Mercedes-Benz had planned to import its small B-Class wagon next November, but the introduction has been delayed, reportedly because of concerns about high costs and the weak dollar. The B-Class is still scheduled to go on sale in Europe this summer.

And Volvo, which has already left a compact footprint in the United States with its S40 sedan and V50 wagon, has said it will bring in an even smaller model, the C30 hatchback coupe.

"The luxury brands are lowering their entry points," said Jeff Schuster, executive director for global forecasting at J.D. Power & Associates. The tactic is to build volume by bringing in younger customers, he added, to "grab them early and keep them loyal as their incomes rise." Along the way, the theory goes, they will keep moving up to larger and more profitable vehicles.

Volvo was ahead of the curve on this front. In 1999, it began to import its S40 line, which had already been on sale in Europe for four years. But that car, which had been designed for European tastes, wasn't well received in the United States.

The S40 was not just small, its appointments were rather plain. It was also introduced with a one-note powertrain: a four-speed automatic transmission coupled with a 160-horsepower 4-cylinder engine that felt none too zippy.

When it came time to replace the first S40, Volvo designed the successor -- which now has two names, the S40 sedan and V50 wagon -- with American tastes in mind.

It is a given today that economy cars must share their basic structures with other models from the same corporate family (or from strategic partners), and these are no exception. Because Volvo is a Ford subsidiary, the S40 and V50 borrow a structure used by two corporate cousins, the Mazda 3 and the Ford Focus sold in Europe (but not the Focus offered in the United States).

Still, while there are similarities in the basic underpinnings, Volvo and Mazda executives say they developed the cars to perform differently, just as the exterior design and interior execution vary a lot. The S40 is priced as much as $10,000 more than the Mazda 3, a car that feels more direct and nimble, though certainly less refined.

While no one would accuse the small Mazda of being a luxury car, the Volvos make a convincing case for themselves on some counts. The controls are well-dampened and the ride can be lush. The interior appointments are nicer than you'd probably expect in cars of this size.

Volvo offers a choice of either of two suspensions. Shuttling between Cleveland and Detroit, I drove an S40 with front-wheel drive and the standard suspension. The roads were straight, unremarkable and pocked with potholes. I found the S40 to be a comfortable, if somewhat dull, cruiser.

About a week later, I discovered the car's hidden, frolicksome side. Here in the Coshocton area some 100 miles south of Cleveland, I took the S40 over twisting country roads that pass through Norman Rockwell towns and along well-tended Amish farms. On this dipsy-doodle pavement, fraught with surprise 90-degree turns, the S40 showed that it knew how to party.

The car is tuned to ride comfortably, and yes, that soft tuning means that the body leans a bit -- but only a bit -- on curves. But it doesn't hamper the S40's ability to handle the dynamic weight-shifting challenge of a quick right followed by a sharp left, a challenge that can fluster less capable suspensions. Suddenly, I was thinking that the S40 was my favorite Volvo, and certainly the liveliest and best handling.

I could not say the same, however, of a V50 wagon with the sport suspension that I tried later. On the same roads between Cleveland and Detroit, I felt every pothole and tar strip. I cannot imagine giving up the well-rounded, utterly capable standard suspension for the taut and tough sport setup, much less paying $2,025 more for its insults and injuries to my person.

Then again, I am on the high side of Volvo's target age group; perhaps the bodies of the under-35 set can take more punishment.

Getting down the straights was effortless and speedy, since the test model was an S40 T5, which in Volvospeak means a turbocharged 5-cylinder engine. With a displacement of 2.5 liters, the T5 is rated at 218 horsepower at 5,000 r.p.m. More important, it produces considerable torque along a wide range of engine speeds: 236 pounds-feet from 1,500 to 4,800 r.p.m. That means the car responds quickly almost every time you ask.

There is another engine, a 168-horsepower 2.4-liter 5-cylinder that breathes naturally (without the turbo). It comes with a five-speed manual or a five-speed automatic.

My S40 T5 test car had the automatic but not all-wheel drive, which is optional on T5 versions of both the sedan and wagon. The T5 also comes with a six-speed manual. Base prices range from $24,255 for the 2.4 liter with the 5-speed manual to $30,065 for the T5 with the automatic, which can be manually shifted.

Even base models come with a lot of standard equipment. Safety features include antilock brakes; emergency brake assist for panic stops; side curtain air bags for head protection; and whiplash protection features in the front seats. My S40 T5 test car also had traction and stability control and options including a premium sound system and power moonroof. It carried a price of $30,175.

Regardless of the type of road being traveled, life inside the S40 is pretty good. The interiors are far more elegant than before. The instrument panel has the clean Scandinavian design of a Bang & Olufsen audio system. Four types of upholstery are offered, including leather; my S40 had seats in an attractive soft ribbed textile called T-Tec, with contrasting-color stitching.

The instrument panel contributes to the car's upscale feel. The center part of the panel, which houses the climate and audio controls, flows down like a waterfall to the center console. It is elegant, ultraslim and free-floating -- there is nothing behind the panel except a small tray at the base.

Volvo calls this tray a "practical storage compartment for personal possessions." Who says the Swedes don't have a sense of humor? Indeed, it is practical for storage when the vehicle is going straight, though on even modest turns any personal possessions I placed there, like a cellphone, were flung about the vehicle.

Storage spaces are generally lacking. The console has a tiny bin. The door pockets are very thin. A nice and needed touch are mesh pockets on the front edge of the front seats.

People space is a bit limited, too. The new S40 is shorter than the previous model by 1.9 inches, though all the other dimensions are larger. The new car is taller (1.2 inches) and wider (2.1 inches) and has a wheelbase 3 inches longer.

It does have 3 more cubic feet of trunk space and 1.7 more inches to stretch out in the backseat -- though the 34.4 inches of rear legroom fall short of the 36 inches in my own Ford Focus coupe, as well as the 36.3 inches in the Mazda 3 sedan.

The situation is much the same in the V50. There is less cargo room than in the wagon it replaces, though the space is comparable to that of competitors like the Audi A4.

V50 prices range from $26,685 for the 2.4 engine with the automatic transmission to $31,280 for a T5 with all-wheel drive and the automatic.

The V50 I tested also had the T5 engine, this one matched to the six-speed manual. The gear ratios were nicely chosen, but the interplay between clutch and shifter wasn't slick or user-friendly. Some drivers may find it too touchy.

Safety is, of course, one of Volvo's main selling points, and the company says it was determined to make this smaller models as safe as the large S80. One of the ways it accomplished this was to slim down the engines so that they are less likely to intrude into the passenger compartment in a crash.

In the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's 40 m.p.h. offset-front crash test, the S40 earned the highest rating; it also received a "best pick" designation.

In the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's 35 m.p.h. front crash test, the car got 4 out of 5 stars for driver safety, and 5 for front passenger protection. In the agency's side-impact test, the S40 received the top rating, five stars.

Volvo credits its good performance to extra-strong boron steel in the middle roof pillar, as well as to the side-impact air bags and inflatable head-protection curtains.

Thanks to Europe's new emphasis on pedestrian safety, the S40 was designed with a crumple zone between the hood and the engine, reducing the risk of head injuries.

Volvo says it sees evidence that its efforts to win over younger buyers are already working. While the median age for all Volvo buyers is 47, the median for the new S40 and V50 is 35, a company spokesman, Dan Johnston, said.

I came away from my test drives of the new small Volvos with a positive impression. It would be hard not to be enchanted by the S40 and V50, though a storage shortage and slightly cramped accommodations detract from the cars' strong points: an impressive list of safety features, a strong crash-test record and a supple standard suspension.

While Volvo may not have resolved the inherent contradictions of whether a true luxury item can be something within the reach of so many, it has proved the wisdom of so many mothers' sage advice: "Hey, it doesn't hurt to show a little class."